YIHUA 8786D I 2 in 1 Hot Air Rework and Soldering Iron Station with °F /°C, Cool/Hot Air Conversion, Digital Temperature Correction and Sleep Function

Cons: Connection to the base unit for the soldering tool and air gun are not the best and need a little force to insert and screw down well.Pros: You can mount the soldering iron holder accessory to the top, reducing the overall footprint to make for an easier time fitting in tight spaces. 97C solder melts around 245C, and both iron and air gun set to that temp did cause the solder to melt, so I would say the unit is accurate. It uses a typical Weller-style tip, so there is a little length with the tube/sleeve mount compared to say a JBC soldering unit, but not uncomfortable to use. Heat up is fairly rapid. The unit does come with some extra tips for heat gun and soldering iron. nOverall, it's a a decent rework station. I've used it on FR, MCPCB, and specialty no-dielectric solid metal PCBs without causing burn or delamination. Great for LED and small component work, a little underpowered for thick (2mm+) metal based PCBs. I've used this for a few years now and it has remained solid and reliable. My only wish would be a Weller style tip that would provide a flat disc to let me heat up a board from the underside. perfect for point work on stubborn boards that an air gun won't faze.

The unit has lots of tips for the iron and the heat gun plus both the heat and the amount of air are adjustable on the heat gun. I have used the heat gun to weld plastics that are not glueable like polyethylene.I Love the sleep feature for the soldering iron and the auto cool down for the heat gun. Unit was tested with my digital thermometer and seemed to be within a few degrees either way of the set temperature (at least on the soldering iron). The only negative I found was I kept burning my hand on the heat gun so I added a shield. My son got the same unit and he did the same thing so I made a second. I also added a rare earth magnet to the top of the station to hold the other most used tip for the iron (sits in front of the sponge tray). So it is easier to find when I need to change to a smaller tip (Note the camera's recording frames per second are unaligned with the frequency of the LEDs, so digits didn't show up, however they work flawlessly).All in all a great machine that does get used almost everyday, good price, and so far (got it in October of 2021) very reliable. Would recommend it to anyone looking for a rework station.

To preface: I operate a small business where my clients bring and/or ship me their broken ECU from their car and I then track down the source of the failure and make repairs if possible. This type of operation requires a fair bit of desoldering of tiny SMDs and replacing them with a functional chip. The desoldering aspect of it is easily achieved with a heat gun and installation of replacement component can be handled with either a heat gun or soldering iron hence why I opted for a soldering station such as this one.I must say that I am very impressed by what Yihua has to offer in this soldering station. For one, it is pretty compact and doesn't take up a ton of room on the workbench. Temperature control for either the hot air gun or soldering iron is completely independent of the other and both tools can be active at the same time at different temperatures. Temperature reported on LED screen is consistent and accurate within 2% of actual temperature as measured by a highly accurate IR gun. Speaking of the temperatures that this thing can achieve are pretty impressive and reach nearly 480C (900F) with the hot air gun and soldering iron which well-exceeded the temperature range I typically work with. One neat feature is that when the hot air gun is returned to its cradle the device automatically enters into a cooldown cycle to carefully cool down the air gun to prolong its lifespan. There is also a button that can be pressed to start the cooldown cycle even if the air gun isn't in its designated cradle.Now there are a few caveats associated with this soldering station which I will briefly discuss. One is that the main power switch is located on the backside of the station in the top left corner if one were looking at the front of the soldering station. Ths switch is in very close proximity to where the tip of the hot air gun sits when it is returned to its cradle. Now supposing one had been using the hot air gun and allowed for the air gun to complete its cool down cycle before reaching for the main on/off switch then they may be in for a bit of a rude awakening when they inadvertently contact the tip of the air gun which at that point would still have enough latent heat radiating from the metal tip to burn the bejesus out of the hand of your average person. If my hands weren't so calloused and used to super hot objects (ever grabbed a red hot turbo manifold by accident? lol) I'm sure this would bother me a lot more but since my hands are how they are this is terribly troublesome. Another thing I have noticed is that if the soldering iron cradle is mounted on top of the soldering station then the cables of the iron and air gun tend to get tangled up if both are connected to the station concurrently. Once again maybe a minor issue to some but imagine if you had been using the iron and then went to use the air gun without noticing that the cables were intertwined.... you may find that the soldering iron has been dislodged from its resting place only to find a new home in your lap, on the floor etc;. One might be able to see why this is not a good thing. Attempting to let the cradle be a standalone piece fromt he station is point since it is so lightweight that just the action of returning the iron to the cradle is enough force to push it several inches away. Like I mentioned though these are fairly minor issues that don't necessarily effect the performance of the soldering station but are things to consider if you are somebody who plans on using it on a fairly regular basis such as myself.Overall a great bargain as far as soldering stations are concerned. Would recommend for beginner to intermediate soldering enthusiasts or somebody who is looking for a decent soldering station without wanting to break the bank.

I like having a temperature readout. Better temp control seems to keep my tips cleaner and longer lasting. The stand for the iron can be located away from the main unit, which lets me position the iron near the work without the bulky power station right there. The cord for the iron that is limber and well behaved. compared to normal wire. Getting 10 tips with the unit is nice. Haven't used the heat gun much yet but it would have been useful when I replaced the IC on a solid state guitar amp. It doesn't do a quick job on heat shrink tubing, at least not with the nozzle I used. I'm sure there are better soldering stations out there for those who need them, but for low volume guitar work I can't imagine needing anything better. Well worth $80!